The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
These conveyor belts consist of belts made of a reinforced elastomer, or of a reinforced synthetic material, of a suitable length and width, of which the ends must be connected together, before mounting, or after mounting, on devices for supporting and driving that comprise deflection rollers and idler rollers. Often these devices also comprise members for tensioning, that have for purpose to keep the conveyor belt taught.
Until now various means have been used to carry out this connection of the ends of conveyor belts. At the outset, and still today, vulcanisation is used when the belt is constituted of a reinforced elastomer that can be vulcanised. After preparatory work intended to create in each end sorts of degrees that are respectively complementary that apply to one another when said ends are brought close to one another, the vulcanisation is carried out with the adding of heat and pressure such as is well known. An alternative to vulcanisation is cold gluing.
Another known means of connecting consists in using staples with a general U-shape, cut out from a metal sheet, said staples comprise upper plates and lower plates connected by knuckles, with these staples being fastened in two series astride on each one of the ends of the conveyor belt to be connected, in such a way that the knuckles overhang and that those of one series can be nested between the knuckles of the other series, with a connecting and articulating rod then being passed inside the knuckles nested in such a way as to connect as such the two ends by forming a sort of hinge. The known means used to fasten the staples onto the ends of the conveyor belt consist of means for fastening with a stem such as clamps, rivets and screws.
In a more recent past, devices for linking have been proposed that make use of flat connection elements made of reinforced elastomer or of reinforced synthetic material, arranged respectively on one side and on the other side of the ends of the conveyor belt and fastened onto said ends that are to be connected. An example of such devices for linking is given by U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,571, wherein the armatures consist of crossed sets of cables. These devices comprise an upper plate and a lower plate, as well as a central portion that connects the two plates. However, col. 8 I. 12 to 17, the same patent considers limiting the device to two plates, an upper plate and a lower plate.